Marcia focused on computer crime and EFF's Coders' Rights Project, which promotes innovation and protects the rights of curious tinkerers and researchers in their cutting-edge exploration of technology. Before that, Marcia co-founded EFF's open government litigation project. Documents made public though her government transparency work have been reported by the New York Times, Washington Post, National Public Radio, Fox News, and CNN, among others.

In one of his last official acts of 2007, President Bush signed into law the first major overhaul of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in more than a decade. The Open Government Act of 2007 makes much-needed changes to the FOIA process that will give Americans better access to information about their government at work, such as:

Today the New York Times published an article based on Freedom of Information Act documents obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which provide a glimpse into the Defense Department's use of National Security Letters to collect bank and credit information in certain Pentagon investigations. According to the story:

Documents [PDF] obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation show that the FBI asked telecommunications companies to turn over information about people in contact with individuals the FBI was investigating, though a degree removed from any suspicious activity and presumably innocent.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has obtained documents through the Freedom of Information Act that reveal the inner workings of the FBI's Digital Collection System Network (DCSNet), a software suite that allows the Bureau to conduct surveillance on a wide variety of digital devices.

The AWRAC was originally created in 2002 to keep tabs on .mil websites, but its mission expanded in 2005 to include blogs with information relevant to the Army. This change appears to have been controversial. According to an email [PDF] sent late last year by one Army official to another, "My suspicion . . . is that the AWRAC's attention is being diverted by the new mission of reviewing all the Army blogs.

The day before adjourning for August recess, the Senate unanimously approved S.849, the OPEN Government Act, a bipartisan bill that is the first significant update to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in more than a decade.

More than 350 pages describing investigative missteps that the FBI considered disclosing to the Intelligence Oversight Board, which receives reports on intelligence gathering activities that violate guidelines, laws, or presidential orders.

The House of Representatives has passed a bill that will make much-needed updates to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and strengthen the public's right to get records from the federal government. H.R. 1309, the Freedom of Information Act Amendments of 2007, was approved yesterday by a considerable 308-117 margin.

Government accountability supporters throughout the country are preparing to celebrate the public's right to know during Sunshine Week (March 11-17), and it looks like Congress may have the same idea. On Monday, Reps.